Explanation:
The Trifid Nebula,
aka Messier 20,
is easy to find with a small telescope, a well known stop in the
nebula rich constellation
Sagittarius.
But where visible light pictures
show the nebula divided into
three parts by dark, obscuring dust lanes,
this penetrating infrared image
reveals filaments of glowing dust clouds and newborn stars.
The spectacular false-color view is courtesy of the
Spitzer
Space Telescope.
Astronomers have used the Spitzer
infrared image data
to count newborn and
embryonic
stars which otherwise can lie hidden in the
natal dust and gas clouds of this intriguing
stellar nursery.
As seen here, the Trifid is about 30 light-years across and
lies only 5,500 light-years away.
